Ugly Man Book

Definitely not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart or easily disturbed, this is still a work of merit and intelligence though at times not as brilliant or fulfilled as its initial premise lays out (this is the first of Cooper I've read).

I tried reading this book once before and couldn't get through it. After actually throwing it out it continued to stick with me, a combination of a book unfinished with a definite curiosity to see where the author intended to go with his subject and why.

So, six months to a year later I pick up another copy of Ugly Man Stories and after a protracted period of other books finally settled in to read it. It took roughly three or four days but after having read it i can say that it's with only some doubt I finished the short story collection.

Cooper is the master of his chosen field, genre, whatever classification can be given to the bleak and violent worlds he creates with sadomasochistic characters engaging in every taboo both sexual and otherwise while feeling little to no satisfaction before, during, or after said acts. His prose is minimalist and serves well for transgressive fiction simply detailing what happens without remorse or sympathy.

The merit in this writing is in the exploration of worlds both actual and literary where two few are brave or foolish enough to discuss, especially at the lengths to which Cooper does it. Pedophilia, incest, rape, drug addiction, necrophilia, murder, and all this occurring many times in most of his stories show Cooper's boldness and certainly his prowess as a writer for his excavation of meaning (or usually lack thereof) from any and all of the acts mentioned not to mention his lack of concern with literary decorum and his lack of attempts to deify any of the activities he shows, they simply are what the are.

But it does get exhausting and incredibly heavy after a while. How many times and how many different ways can you read about (insert taboo sex and violence here) before it begins to feel a bit one note and even pointless? Cooper never quite reaches either of those points but the book, to me at least, struck me not so much as blackly ironic or satirical but more like an exercise in subversive literary exploration which I've heard Cooper does to even greater lengths in his acclaimed 'George Miles' cycle.

So, definitely a broadening and opening kind of read, though not the explosive brilliance it could have been had the material been handled with a bit more precision and cohesion. It may take a while for me, but I'd love to read more of Cooper's works.